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AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) & related (consolidated)

Old Jan 14, 2015, 5:58 pm
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Last edit by: Prospero
AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)

The basics:
QF releases their awards from 353 days out to QF FF's and some ffp's (Amadeus CRS). So at the 331 days (~Sabre CRS) AA for award release there are scant seats left. They tend to add more much closer to the day of flight, if there are seats available.

2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: For US flights it has been my recent, but limited experience that QF releases award availability around 10-11 months from departure. Consider searching for one seat in F and one in J as well.

Consider alternate cities. E.g. Flights to BNE might be easier to book with AA miles than SYD or MEL, so adding a segment from BNE might give you a trip denied by connecting in SYD. You might have to remind AA reservationists, because they might not consider BNE.

Consider alternate airlines, such as HA from HNL, TN via PPT, FJ via NAN, etc.

N.B. Travel via Honolulu, or Asia (e.g. HKG or NRT), will require two awards.

aa.com occasionally may report "phantom availability" of premium awards on Qantas.

2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: Conversely, aa.com occasionally may not show available Qantas awards. Use BA's search tool, QF's search tool, or service like ExpertFlyer to see availability. Call in to ticket.

Originally Posted by Dave Noble
BA only shows 3 cabins in output. When searching for award seats, make sure to select 1st class as cabin and it will show premium economy, business and 1st rather than economy, premium economy and business

It only displays flights where there is a seat in at least one cabin. If there is no availability on the flight in any cabin, then the flight will not be displayed.
The aa.com oneworld and Other Airline Award Chart may be seen here, for required miles and restrictions on connections.

Note: Reservation speculating, or tying up award space to "flip" in (or out of) Coupon Connection will not be tolerated. If you have an "extra" reservation, simply cancel or refund it. This will not be allowed in this forum either.

Qantas Routes
To be updated
SYD to LAX, DFW, HNL and YVR. SYD SFO restart delayed
BNE to LAX
MEL to LAX and DFW
SYD AKL JFK from 14 June 2023

Notes
Routes can change, so please check the schedule.
During low seasons some routes may not have flights every day.
Not all flights/routes have first class. Only the QF A380 aircraft have has first class.
QF have retired all B747's and sent them to the Mojave desert (July 2020)

+++++++++++++++++
/Moderator

Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)

Note: Older posts have been archived off to this thread

Updates & edits
20 May 2016 - JDiver
23 Sept 2019 - Mwenenzi QF routes added
11 Mar 2020 - Mwenenzi QF route changes
31 Jul 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B747 retired. More Covid-19 announcements from QF
07 Aug 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B787 to storage
12 Nov 2021 - Mwenenzi QF announcements 3 off
05 Mar 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements
12 Jun 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements removed (except 2) as AU fully open & QF flying AU<--->USA
24 Dec 2022 - Mwenenzi QF post CV19 announcements removed. MELDFW route added

THIS WIKI IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD VALUE.
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AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) & related (consolidated)

Old Sep 21, 2019, 9:09 pm
  #901  
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Originally Posted by DVDBob
Anytime fares should be relatively easy to find on AA, not sure about Qantas. I have never seen Qantas flights on any of the AA sites (desktop or mobile)
AAnytime awards are only on AA operated flights. AAnytime awards are not on ff partners
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Old Sep 21, 2019, 9:32 pm
  #902  
 
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Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
AAnytime awards are only on AA operated flights. AAnytime awards are not on ff partners
While AAnytime awards are usually only for AA operated flights, I've found partner awards to be at the same or fewer mile levels, so if MASTERNC has enough for an AAnytime award (typically 135-160K one way) he should have plenty for a partner, if he can find one. (I traveled to NZ via Fiji for 70K one way)
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Old Sep 21, 2019, 9:37 pm
  #903  
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Originally Posted by MASTERNC
I have a enough AA miles for a one-way business class Anytime fare and am currently booked on a cruise in Australia in December 2020. Based on the wiki, I assume it will be difficult to use AA miles and book when the booking window opens (i.e. I have to wait to closer to departure to find an award via Qantas)? The cruise starts in Sydney and I am in Philadelphia.
Look at the other ways to get to Australia with AA ff miles. TN, FJ or via HNL
And look at BNE & MEL. SYD is not the only airport in Australia
And AA flys LAX-SYD
Late Dec will be harder than early Dec. And look at cash prices

AAdvantage award to / from Australia, New Zealand (master thread)
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Old Oct 16, 2019, 12:41 pm
  #904  
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Question:

Just booked some LAX-MEL tickets on QF.

I am based in the NYC metro so I would like too get on QF12 JFK-LAX and then connect on to MEL.

I of course would be happy to add the NYC-LAX flight on AA or AS since it won't be anything "extra" but I am a realist.

The agent I booked with said that they don't have a domestic partnership with Qantas so booking that flight is impossible. I have seen it offered via AS award search when looking at JFK-Australia.

Is that true that AA won't ticket you on that segment? If it isn't how does one go about finding the award space?

FWIW I am traveling on 12/26/19.

Thanks
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Old Oct 16, 2019, 2:13 pm
  #905  
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It is definitely bookable through AA. Unfortunately, you will have to search using the full length as you can't book QF 12 JFK-LAX without a connection to a QF flight from LAX to Australia. It does not appear to be currently available for the 26th, nothing came up in a search for me.

JonNYC likes this.
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Old Oct 22, 2019, 7:08 am
  #906  
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Thanks TheBOSman as always know one knows QF awards quite like you.

Good to know it pops up if it is available. I felt like it had to be bookable, and didn't fully trust that a phone agent would have that much QF booking experience.

Will continue to monitor it, or just buy a TCON fare on AA.
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Old Oct 22, 2019, 11:17 am
  #907  
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The difficult part is if you are looking for business availability, since it is obviously very difficult to get Qantas business awards LAX-Australia, is that it is REALLY hard to then also get QF J JFK-LAX for the same date. I don't believe AA's online award search will show an option for J on QF JFK-LAX and then Y on the TPAC leg, so this makes it even more difficult. It might be possible to look it up on ExpertFlyer but I no longer have a subscription there so I cannot verify myself.

FWIW IMO, more general advice, now that QF is 789 JFK-LAX, for those flying from NYC:

If flying Y LAX to Australia, fly AA A321T, 789 Y seat definitely tighter than A321T seat.

If flying J LAX to Australia, fly QF 789, the J seat is definitely better than the A321T J seat.

If flying F LAX to Australia, something of a tossup. My priority would be to make sure that I had at least a 90 minute connection at LAX to have dinner in the Qantas First Lounge at LAX.

The QF flight JFK-LAX used to have routine delays with the 744 when it was operating there; it seems the 789 is much more reliable from a dispatch perspective, so that consideration is no longer valid (I would have strongly suggested avoiding the 744 operated flight for that reason).
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Old Oct 24, 2019, 3:36 am
  #908  
 
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Originally Posted by TheBOSman
The QF flight JFK-LAX used to have routine delays with the 744 when it was operating there; it seems the 789 is much more reliable from a dispatch perspective, so that consideration is no longer valid (I would have strongly suggested avoiding the 744 operated flight for that reason).
I don't know that the 744 aircraft itself was the culprit behind the JFK-LAX delays as much as JFK early evening congestion, particularly on bad weather days. The 789 has seen some equally nasty delays out of JFK, though you might be right that already rare MX delays during the 744 days have gotten even rarer.
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Old Oct 24, 2019, 4:13 pm
  #909  
 
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Looking at 375k one-way prices for February/March under the new dynamic pricing (nearly 2x the old "max" rate) but 175k in September (farthest out). Looks like I may not have enough miles when my booking window opens.
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Old Oct 24, 2019, 4:25 pm
  #910  
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Originally Posted by MASTERNC
Looking at 375k one-way prices for February/March under the new dynamic pricing (nearly 2x the old "max" rate) but 175k in September (farthest out). Looks like I may not have enough miles when my booking window opens.
What route are you looking at? Class of travel?
QF fly more than LAX-SYD. AA also fly LAX-SYD

MASTERNC
thread Flights to SYD from USA - Best Airlines

Last edited by Mwenenzi; Oct 24, 2019 at 4:51 pm
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Old Oct 25, 2019, 7:15 am
  #911  
 
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Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
What route are you looking at? Class of travel?
QF fly more than LAX-SYD. AA also fly LAX-SYD
Seems the prices are the same for QF or AA, regardless if you fly via LAX or DFW. Looks like QF will be going from SFO soon, though that is pending approval.
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Old Oct 25, 2019, 7:58 am
  #912  
 
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Playing around last night for summer/fall 2020, I saw isolated QF award business availability out of SFO.

Someone on another thread had mentioned QF Award Business availability starting to come back LAX-SYD. That's true a ton of Business award availability for next year was loaded recently that wasn't there 3-4 weeks ago. But actually clicking through on 10+ random dates and checking the view for those weeks, the awards are all Fiji Air connecting through NAN. I didn't find even one QF Business or First award ticket near the dates I searched.
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Old Oct 25, 2019, 12:48 pm
  #913  
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Originally Posted by MASTERNC
Seems the prices are the same for QF or AA, regardless if you fly via LAX or DFW. Looks like QF will be going from SFO soon, though that is pending approval.
QF has been flying from SFO for a very long time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Qantas
<snip>
The first jet service operated by Qantas was on 29 July 1959 from Sydney to San Francisco via Nadi and Honolulu
<snip>
Qantas Routes
SYD to LAX, SFO, JFK(via LAX), DFW, HNL and YVR*
BNE to LAX, SFO** and ORD**
MEL to LAX and SFO
* Seasonable
**BNE ORD from 20 April 2020
**BNE SFO from 5 February 2020

Last edited by Mwenenzi; Oct 25, 2019 at 1:38 pm Reason: added history link
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Old Nov 1, 2019, 10:04 am
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Advice on using AA miles for QF flights

Hi, I'm trying to book an award ticket for my family of 4 from SFO to Australia. We're targeting Nov 2020, leaving Th 11/12 or Fri 11/13 and returning approximately 2 weeks later on Th 11/26 (Thanksgiving day) or Friday 11/27.

I'm only interested in non stop flights and want to do an open jaws. Since the only non stop flights to Australia from SFO are SYD, BNE and MEL, that narrows it to those 3 cities. of those, I'd definitely want SYD, and either BNE (preferred), or MEL (less preferred).

I want to use my AS miles for one way (for example, SFO-BNE (stopover)- SYD) because I don't have enough AS miles for the RT for 4 people.

I do have enough miles on AA to complete the other one way portion (SYD-SFO) for 4 people. So although all travel will be on Qantas, the miles used would come from both AS and AA.

Although Economy is ok, I'd much prefer premium economy, or business if it's available. Here is what I have in terms of miles:

AS (4 accounts): 160k, 45k, 51k, 145k,
AA: (2 accounts): 82k, 230k

I know on AS, a OW (with or without stopover) on QF is 42.5k and using AA miles on QF, is 40k.

Premium economy using AS miles is 47.5k (seems very worth it to me) and business is 55k) . Seems like AA charges 65k for premium economy on QF and business is 80k.

It seems like the flight availability on both the AS and AA website for QF flights are about 275 days out although I'm not sure if that is exactly correct and some flights seem like they're at least 4 seats available on 275 days out, but then none on 274 or 273 days out (maybe someone snagged them already)?

just looking to get some advice on how to best play this since its a bit complicated for 4 passengers and also 2 different mileage programs.

Right now, I'm thinking of using AA miles for SFO-BNE ideally on premium economy, although I don't see any premium economy seats showing up online for any flights on any date (perhaps because it's a new option and can't be booked online)

And then use my AS miles for BNE-SYD (stopover) - SFO. Ideally in business, but more likely premium economy, since I never see 4 business tickets and almost never see any premium economy. (although strangely lots of premium economy to/from MEL)

Thanks and would appreciate any advice/tips/suggestions! I also posted this on the AS thread. Apologies for the duplicate
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Old Nov 1, 2019, 10:20 am
  #915  
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Originally Posted by kayexalate
Hi, I'm trying to book an award ticket for my family of 4 from SFO to Australia. We're targeting Nov 2020, leaving Th 11/12 or Fri 11/13 and returning approximately 2 weeks later on Th 11/26 (Thanksgiving day) or Friday 11/27.

I'm only interested in non stop flights and want to do an open jaws. Since the only non stop flights to Australia from SFO are SYD, BNE and MEL, that narrows it to those 3 cities. of those, I'd definitely want SYD, and either BNE (preferred), or MEL (less preferred).

I want to use my AS miles for one way (for example, SFO-BNE (stopover)- SYD) because I don't have enough AS miles for the RT for 4 people.

I do have enough miles on AA to complete the other one way portion (SYD-SFO) for 4 people. So although all travel will be on Qantas, the miles used would come from both AS and AA.

Although Economy is ok, I'd much prefer premium economy, or business if it's available. Here is what I have in terms of miles:

AS (4 accounts): 160k, 45k, 51k, 145k,
AA: (2 accounts): 82k, 230k

I know on AS, a OW (with or without stopover) on QF is 42.5k and using AA miles on QF, is 40k.

Premium economy using AS miles is 47.5k (seems very worth it to me) and business is 55k) . Seems like AA charges 65k for premium economy on QF and business is 80k.

It seems like the flight availability on both the AS and AA website for QF flights are about 275 days out although I'm not sure if that is exactly correct and some flights seem like they're at least 4 seats available on 275 days out, but then none on 274 or 273 days out (maybe someone snagged them already)?

just looking to get some advice on how to best play this since its a bit complicated for 4 passengers and also 2 different mileage programs.

Right now, I'm thinking of using AA miles for SFO-BNE ideally on premium economy, although I don't see any premium economy seats showing up online for any flights on any date (perhaps because it's a new option and can't be booked online)

And then use my AS miles for BNE-SYD (stopover) - SFO. Ideally in business, but more likely premium economy, since I never see 4 business tickets and almost never see any premium economy. (although strangely lots of premium economy to/from MEL)

Thanks and would appreciate any advice/tips/suggestions! I also posted this on the AS thread. Apologies for the duplicate
Award flights using AA miles only start to become available at 331 days before departure; it's entirely up to QF -- not AA -- to determine what award seats to make available to partners.

Note that AA permits awards to be held without charge for up to five days. This free hold will probably be useful to you if you have to coordinate an award booking with AS miles too.

Have all of the adults in your party maxed out on the credit-card bonuses for AAdvantage miles available through both Barclays and Citi?
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